Directions left in grotto in area surrounded by foreign territory (7)
I believe the answer is:
enclave
'territory' is the definition.
(I know that enclave is a type of territory)
'directions left in grotto' is the wordplay.
'directions' becomes 'en' (east and north).
'left' becomes 'l' (common abbreviation).
'in' indicates putting letters inside.
'grotto' becomes 'cave' (I've seen this before).
'l' put into 'cave' is 'clave'.
'en'+'clave'='ENCLAVE'
'in area surrounded by foreign' is the link.
I am not very happy about this link. Some or all of it may belong to another bit of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for enclave that I've seen before include "Vatican for example" , "Group that's surrounded" , "Area ethnically different from its surroundings" , "Surrounded area of a different ethnicity" , "ghetto" .)